Jets Get Bullied in Chicago as Bears Grind New York Into 23-12 Defeat

By Tiffany Williams –

CHICAGO — This wasn’t complicated.

The Chicago Bears had the football.

The New York Jets mostly watched them keep it.

Chicago beat New York 23-12 Sunday at Soldier Field in a game that exposed one of football’s most unforgiving truths: it doesn’t matter how many talented names are printed on the roster if your offense can’t stay on the field and your defense can’t get off it.

The Bears controlled the football for a staggering 42 minutes and 45 seconds.

That left the Jets trying to manufacture an offense with scraps.

New York ran only 32 offensive plays compared with 89 for Chicago, an almost absurd discrepancy that left the Jets defense carrying a workload no unit should be asked to survive.

And the Jets didn’t survive it.

Chicago improved to 3-1.

New York walked away with another loss and a pile of questions.

Jets head coach Aaron Glenn wasn’t interested in dressing it up afterward.

“When it comes to the game I am very, very disappointed on a number of different levels. This was basically just not playing complimentary football at its best. The penalties which negated a couple of turnovers that we had was tough, and that’s tough to live with, and for your defense to go out there and have nearly 90 plays and I think the offense had 32 plays, right there it’s tough to get something going in that situation.”

That’s the game.

Eighty-nine plays to 32.

You can analyze formations, personnel groupings and matchups all night.

Start there.

The Bears owned the football and made the Jets chase them around Soldier Field.

Chicago’s defense made matters worse by completely erasing New York on third down.

The Jets went 0-for-7.

Zero.

Seven opportunities to extend possessions and not one conversion.

Chicago head coach Ben Johnson called his defense’s performance “outstanding” after holding the Jets to roughly 150 to 160 yards and shutting them out on third down. He also gave the game ball to linebacker Devin Bush.

The Bears didn’t need offensive fireworks every few minutes.

They didn’t need to play frantic football.

They controlled the line of scrimmage, controlled possession and forced New York into a game the Jets couldn’t escape.

Johnson acknowledged that Chicago didn’t necessarily produce the explosive plays he constantly hunts as a play caller.

It didn’t matter.

“I don’t know if we had the ‘super explosives’ like we would have wanted either. But I know there weren’t a whole lot of third downs, or at least third and longs that I had to dial up there. It was just interesting how that all played out. But I thought the guys up front really did a great job.”

That’s winning football without the glitter.

The Bears didn’t have to turn every possession into a highlight reel because New York couldn’t take the football away from them often enough to change the rhythm of the afternoon.

The Jets defense actually made plays.

That is what makes the loss more frustrating.

Minkah Fitzpatrick was everywhere.

Fitzpatrick recorded a career-high 16 tackles and intercepted a pass, his first interception as a Jet and the 22nd of his career.

Ten of those tackles came in the first half, also a career high for Fitzpatrick in any half.

He became just the third safety this century to record at least 10 tackles and an interception in the same half and the first Jets player to accomplish that combination since 1991.

Those are enormous numbers.

They are also numbers that tell another story.

When your safety is making 16 tackles, somebody is staying on the field for a very long time.

Fitzpatrick’s interception should have been a momentum-changing play.

Glenn wasn’t celebrating it.

Not after losing.

“Honestly, I’m not really worried about that. We got an interception, great. God, we lost the game. That’s what’s so backwards about the thinking of everybody is we lost the game and we got the interception. I mean we lost a game and that’s what I’m thinking about, like how do we get better at that.”

That might be the most important quote from the Jets’ side.

Nobody gets a trophy for winning the turnover highlight while losing the game.

Jamien Sherwood also fought to keep New York alive.

Sherwood broke up a third-and-goal pass at the 1-yard line and later made another third-down stop at the goal line.

He forced a fumble recovered by Brandon Stephens.

Sherwood finished with at least 10 tackles, a pass defensed and a forced fumble, becoming one of only three NFL defenders to produce that combination in a game this season.

Demario Davis recorded 10 tackles and sacked Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent for an eight-yard loss.

It was Davis’ second consecutive game with at least 10 tackles and a sack, making him only the second Jet in franchise history to accomplish that in back-to-back games.

Stephens made another enormous defensive play when he stopped D’Andre Swift on fourth-and-goal at the 1.

The Jets defense bent.

It fought.

It produced turnovers and goal-line stops.

It also stayed on the field for an exhausting number of snaps because New York’s offense couldn’t give it enough help.

That’s not complementary football.

That’s a defense being asked to repeatedly clean up a mess.

The Jets compounded the problem with penalties.

Glenn pointed directly at them, particularly the penalties that wiped out opportunities for New York to get off the field on third down.

“Yeah, I’m not going to get too far in that, but I think we had 12. I don’t know, they had like three or four or something. I thought that was tough to deal with. When it’s that big of a discrepancy it’s always hard. When you think about it, most of those penalties that we had on third down we’re getting off the field to give our offense a chance to get the ball back. And those are the ones that hurt, cause now you’re extending drives.”

Then came an even stronger assessment when Glenn discussed the nullified interceptions.

“Yeah, that’s the issue that we had. That’s what I’m really pissed at more than anything, is just the penalties in those times when we create these opportunities to get our offense the ball back. And to me, that’s what I’m thinking about. Anything else is really just white noise to me. So we have to get better.”

There it is.

The Jets weren’t merely beaten by Chicago.

They made their own job harder.

And while the defense can legitimately complain about being stranded on the field, the offense has nowhere to hide from 0-for-7 on third down.

Geno Smith knows it.

Smith entered the game having completed 72.6 percent of his passes through four games, the highest completion percentage by a Jets quarterback with at least 100 attempts through the opening month of a season since the merger.

He also has not thrown an interception through four games, becoming just the third Jets quarterback since the merger to begin a season with at least 100 attempts and no interceptions through four games.

Those numbers look beautiful.

Sunday didn’t.

Smith said it himself.

“I think it was not my best game. I think I could have done a lot better and executed a lot better in the passing game. But there’s always room for improvement, as I always tell you, and I look forward to that.”

That’s the quarterback taking responsibility.

And there was plenty to take.

New York couldn’t establish rhythm.

Couldn’t sustain drives.

Couldn’t convert third downs.

Couldn’t consistently capitalize when its defense created opportunities.

Smith specifically pointed toward those failures.

“Just overall execution, off the top of my head, I’d say third downs. I don’t think we fare well on third downs, had some tough situations there. But overall, just execution, whenever we get turnovers, we’ve got to get touchdowns and not settle for field goals. I think we can do a lot of things better, but those are the ones I see just off the top of my head.”

The Jets did produce one offensive lightning bolt.

Smith connected with Isaiah Williams for a 58-yard touchdown, the longest reception of Williams’ career and his first NFL touchdown from scrimmage.

The play was New York’s seventh completion of at least 30 yards this season, the most by an NFL offense through the completion of Sunday’s 1 p.m. games.

But one explosion doesn’t erase an afternoon of offensive stagnation.

Braelon Allen carried 14 times for 59 yards, averaging 4.2 yards per attempt.

There was something there.

The Jets simply didn’t possess the football enough to keep leaning on it.

Then there is Garrett Wilson.

The Jets know Wilson has to matter more.

Glenn didn’t dodge that issue either.

“Obviously, you have to go back and look at the tape to see why. They did some things we clearly see to where they were trying to roll up to G (Wilson). But we have to find a way to try to get him the ball. He’s basically one of the engines that get us going, both of those guys, and we have to figure out a way to get those guys the ball as much as possible.”

That’s not complicated either.

Opponents know Garrett Wilson is dangerous.

They’re going to game-plan for him.

They’re going to make his afternoon miserable.

The Jets still have to find answers.

Smith made that point without making excuses.

“Every team we play are going to try and take away your best players. That’s football. They’re not going to let you have easy plays. They’re going to make it extremely hard on you. We’ve got other guys who are able to catch the ball and make plays as well. I just think, overall, we didn’t execute to the best of our ability.”

Meanwhile, Chicago played the game on its terms.

Bagent wasn’t asked to become Superman.

He was asked to operate the offense, protect possessions and let the Bears’ physical approach take over.

Johnson said Bagent had earned his place as Chicago’s No. 2 quarterback and praised his efficiency, while acknowledging an interception that Bagent would want back.

Chicago’s running game became the hammer.

Kyle Monangai kept getting the football.

And getting it.

And getting it.

Johnson didn’t even realize until afterward that Monangai had received 30 carries.

“He’s the same guy every day. So, he shows up and he runs hard. And it just so happened that we gave him the ball 30 times, apparently. So I didn’t even know until I got in my office at the end. But he ran super, super hard.”

That is what Chicago wanted this game to become.

Physical.

Slow.

Punishing.

Possession after possession.

The Bears weren’t perfect.

They turned the football over.

They left points on the field in the red zone.

Johnson openly acknowledged both problems and said red-zone efficiency would remain a major emphasis.

But imperfect football can still be winning football when one team dictates almost everything about how the game is played.

Chicago did.

The Bears even finished the game with the football after putting together a possession lasting more than nine minutes.

Bagent described an offense that simply kept grinding first downs and controlling the line of scrimmage.

“Yeah, I mean, Ben expressed that he would like points from this drive. Nobody knew it was going to be nine minutes, but that was kind of more of the same just throughout the whole day, just being able to hold on to the ball, continue to get first downs and keep their offense off the field.”

Nine minutes.

At that point, it stops looking like possession football and starts looking like suffocation.

The Jets knew what Chicago wanted to do.

They still couldn’t get the football back.

The Bears knew the Jets defense was tired.

They kept leaning.

Chicago walked into the afternoon coming off the emotional high of a Monday night victory and could easily have produced a flat performance.

Instead, the Bears reached 3-1.

The Jets became the team searching for answers.

New York can point toward Fitzpatrick’s interception.

It can point toward Sherwood’s forced fumble.

It can point toward the goal-line stands.

It can point toward Smith’s continued interception-free start.

It can point toward Williams’ 58-yard touchdown.

Those things happened.

They matter.

They also don’t change 23-12.

They don’t change 0-for-7 on third down.

And they certainly don’t change 89 offensive plays against 32.

Glenn understands where this conversation goes next.

The Jets have history hanging over them, and every loss threatens to drag that history back into the room.

He wants none of it.

“Well, that’s exactly it, we have too many people that want to think about history. Inside of that locker room, I want our guys not to think about history, because history is going to be brought up so much. And they get it from the outside, just beating down on history so much. We just have to circle the wagons and not let any of that come inside our locker room.”

Fair enough.

The Jets don’t need to fix their history.

They need to fix Sunday.

They need to stop extending opposing drives with penalties.

They need to convert third downs.

They need touchdowns when the defense hands them opportunities.

They need to get Garrett Wilson involved.

And they need to give their defense enough time on the sideline to breathe.

Smith reduced the solution to something even simpler.

“You’ve got to get back to work and you’ve got to demand it from yourself. It starts with the man in the mirror. You’ve got to demand it from yourself. Then, obviously, as a group, we can all play a lot better.”

That’s where the Jets are.

No hiding behind statistics.

No celebrating an interception after a loss.

No pretending 32 offensive snaps are enough.

Chicago controlled the football, controlled the tempo and controlled the afternoon.

The scoreboard merely delivered the verdict.

Bears 23.

Jets 12.

And New York has a lot more to fix than the final score.